Sweet Child O' Mine

I was baking muffins this past week and had some Christmas music wafting through the air to put some pep in my step. Along comes Landon to the kitchen to "help" like usual. Except this time he sees my toes tapping and sure enough, he starts "dancing" to Funky Rudolph along with me. It was so adorable I almost burst from the warmth that spread through my heart.

The best way I can describe his dance moves is that it is a combination of a pecking head up top and the (attempted) side shuffle swagger of Axel Rose moves on the bottom. It is very disjointed looking. Kind of like the Elaine dance. It is the most awkward yet ridiculously adorable thing.

Hoping your holidays are filled with equivalent moments of warmth and swagger.

I Couldn't Put My Arms Down

It was 55 degrees a couple days this week and I had Landon in abooouuut five layers of clothing, including a hat and mittens. It was pretty mama bear-ish. But love and thermal layers know no bounds to a new mom, nor will it diminish through the years, I suppose. I was looking through some old Christmas photos and tangentially thought about how darn much my mom must have loved James and I; I say this because I don't think we were able to put our arms down in any Chicago winter growing up. She bundled us up like Eskimos and gave us warm (not hot!) baths afterwards. Again, these are things I notice more readily from the perspective of being a mother myself these days.

We lost her a year ago, but my thoughts of her are as strong and warm and fuzzy as ever. It's like my heart can't put its arms down. Merry Christmas, Mom!

We were able to bend our limbs a little bit to successfully go sledding later in the day.

Our arms started to hang a little lower as we grew, but the dexterity in our fingers was still compromised.

Members Only.

"I just met you, but I think I sure do love you," thought baby Katie. "Me, too," thought Mommy.

Dash Two*

Before things get too crazy around here, I should prooooobably mention that we have baby numero two on the way. No big deal.

Umm, actually yes, big deal. We are thrilled. To answer questions: (1) yes, we planned to have them this close, (2) yes, I got pregnant while still breastfeeding and (3) yes, I sincerely believe it would be great if the gender rolled either way. If it's a boy, I feel like I know what I'm doing and if it's a girl, I get to raise a little lady! I think the most exciting part will be seeing how this different character and personality develops. We are, of course, also off the charts excited to see how the sibling relationship evolves... we expect them to be best buddies, no doubt.

Little bean is located in larger dark bean on lower left side. Two feet pointing upwards!

The second booger is scheduled to arrive in late June. We already have names picked out for either direction, but I promised promised promised I wouldn't spill the beans before delivery day this time. [That may be harder than the pregnancy itself.]

So far the experience has been similar to my previous one, but with much less anxiety and without the five pages of questions for the doctor each visit. The first trimester nausea rolls in once or twice a day, but Landon is a sport about it and keeps himself occupied. When Erik is at home, he helpfully takes the little man and let's me sway and moan over a sink in private, bless his heart.

*Dash two is another - you guessed it! - aviation term. It refers to flying multiple jets in formation where the first is "the lead" and the second jet is "Dash 2", etc. So it's not uncommon to hear in the flight community that a -2 or a -3 is on the way. Military lingo lesson for today: complete.

Santa = Meh

The base held a "tree lighting" party for kids and families over at the O Club on base this week. These things aren't the most glamorous or well funded events, but you can tell the people at MWR put a lot of work into it and the kids were all running around having a great time. Landon, of course, is a little too young to absorb any of the festivities, but he always enjoys new environments and people so he was a happy camper.

The coolest part of the evening was that Santa came in a helicopter. A helicopter! I guess that's a perk of a base activity. It. blew. the kids'. minds. Holy shamolies, if you ever want to hear a chorus of excited mini screams, have Santa hang out the side of a freakin' helicopter.

Daddy is able to run over and join us after a debrief! Yay!

Well he didn't cry, so we'll take it.

"Never mind the chubby guy in the red suit, gimme' that BEAR!" Couldn't keep Landon away from this thing.

Lady Eagle Day

Today was the equivalent of "Take Your Wife to Work Day" over at the squadron. The whole shtick is that you wear your hubby's flight suit and take a tour around places like the control tower, simulator, the gear shop to try on the G suit and helmets and also to hook into a jet. It was a tiring day, but a good time. The only bummer was that Erik was flying so he wasn't able to join in - I think I would have had a lot more laughs with him making fun of me throughout it all. Especially when I was dangling from the parachute hang or when it took a couple pairs of hands to zip up my G suit ("Hmm, maybe you're a medium..." says the lady in the gear shop).

My "sweetheart" wings and call sign.

Thankfully, my "graceful" entrance into the cockpit was not caught on film.

Erik says "Add a photo where you can see the cockpit." Here is a photo where you can see the cockpit.

"Look like a maniacal goober hanging from the ceiling." Okay, I can do that!

Erik stops by between briefings to say howdy.

More Excitement Next Week

So I've been lacking a bit on the blogging front lately. I suppose a teething baby (yes, he FINALLY is sprouting his first toofie!) and the holidays had something to do with it. Or not. I've just been lazy.

The end of our time in South Texas is rapidly approaching as Landon and I will be on a plane in a couple weekends to head up north for the holidays... with no intentions of coming back afterwards. Erik will stay behind a few extra days to do some paperwork (and potentially a packout*) and then join us for Christmas. He WILL come back to TX after the New Year to wrap things up and then drive the car to Whidbey Island** where we will all eventually reunite (Landon and I will just fly directly from PA/MD). Do you want to drive from TX to WA with a 14 month old? Yeah, me neither.

In the meantime, besides the Toofie Terror 2011 we've been working through, Landon and I have been enjoying the break in the weather (its gotten down to the 70s and even 60s on some days!). We are able to spend time outside where he likes to conquer the neighborhood curbs and chase after the local chihuahua, Rosita. And of course he enjoys interior antics as well such as rearranging the fridge and just bumbling around the house looking for mischief.

Climbing in and out of beach chairs is the pastime du jour. Also, I'm losing more and more flower petals to curious fingers. Meanwhile, Landon has proven ingesting petunias is not poisonous.

Can't find your car keys? Check the vegetable drawer in the fridge.

Taking a break to watch some Oswald (blue octopus show on Nick Jr). Commence open mouth stare...now!

The best 99 cents I spent last week: A package of fuzzy balls. ROI is about a 100 right now if I consider how long they've kept him occupied vs the cost of a babysitter.

So! That's all she wrote for now. Stay tuned for exciting news next week when Erik will likely receive his "soft wings" as he completes the syllabus and ties up any loose ends on required flight hours! His official winging is on Friday, Dec 16th and we are so looking forward to having the Halvorson gang in town!!!!

*Packout = military lingo for when the movers come and pack up all your stuff into an extraneous amount of boxes.

**We don't have orders yet, but we are still feeling confident that we will make it back up to the VAQ community. I have even more faith that Erik will select Growlers, although I know he'd be fine if he worked with Prowlers again.